It's time to help us, Taxi Drivers tell MP
22nd June 2009
For anyone anxiously waiting at a taxi rank for a cab to come along, the issue of regulating the number of vehicles plying for trade is probably the furthest thing from their mind.
But cab operators believe that there are already too many on the streets of Cambridge - more than 1,000 taxis and private hire cars in total - for them all to make a living.
Now angry cab drivers have accused city MP David Howarth of hypocrisy over his opposition to restricting the number of taxis in Cambridge.
David Wratton, director of Cambridge City Licensed Taxis, formerly the Cambridge Licensed Taxi Owners Association (CLTOA), says it is wrong for Mr Howarth to champion protectionist policies to prevent chain stores from moving into Mill Road while also opposing moves to limit taxi cab numbers.
The call follows the MP's bid to turn Mill Road into the country's first Independent Business Zone to help protect small shops - a policy which has won approval from Cambridge City Council's ruling Liberal Democrat group.
Mr Wratton said: "These politicians are only too keen to help traders on Mill Road by advancing these protectionist measures, but they are doing nothing to help us.
"There are 305 taxis and 700 private hire cars in Cambridge, which is far too many for a city of this size.
"We need a cap on the number of taxis in the city, otherwise the situation will reach crisis point. Taxi drivers are already struggling to make a living and we won't be able to cope if we have another 50 cabs on the road.
"But Mr Howarth and the Liberal Democrat city council will not discuss limiting our numbers. They're willing to go to Parliament to fight for the interests of Mill Road traders, but they will not even consider helping us. Taxi drivers have livelihoods and families too and it's totally hypocritical to argue in favour of one group and not another."
Mr Howarth said: "On the issue of a cap on the total number of taxis in Cambridge, I continue to disagree with the faction of taxi drivers who prefer the old situation in which customers had to queue for long periods of time at every rank.
"Instead I support those taxi drivers who believe that there should be equal access for all licensed hackney carriage drivers to all ranks, including the rank at the railway station.
"I have met with taxi drivers recently and plan to do so again fairly shortly to discuss the lack of spaces at taxi ranks in the city centre, about which they have my support."
Mr Wratton, a taxi driver for 10 years, championed the plight of the city's taxi drivers at a meeting of Love Cambridge, the city centre partnership group, on Thursday.
But he was not impressed by the council's reaction to his calls.
He said: "They control our prices, ranking spaces and our licences, but they have refused to control taxi numbers.
"They blame us for over-ranking, but this problem would be non-existent if they took measures to limit taxi numbers through managed and controlled growth."
There was tension in the trade in central Cambridge following a police crackdown on illegally-parked taxis in the city in March.
One taxi driver was arrested for refusing to show his documents to Pc Steve Hinks, as the News reported, but later released without charge.
Taxi drivers then threatened to blockade the city as the row over parking escalated. Drivers say they have been forced to park illegally as there are only 36 rank spaces for the city's 300-plus cabs.
Lib Dem councillor Colin Rosenstiel said: "We are interested in looking at matters of quality, particularly improving the standard of drivers in the taxi and private hire car trade.
"A lot of time was spent messing about - at a cost to the trade - trying to find out if there were enough taxis. The law requires the market to dominate.
"There is an unsatisfactory legislative framework but trying to reintroduce a limit on the numbers would introduce as many problems as it solves."
Source; Cambridge News ONLINE www.cambridge-news.co.uk
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